


Incomplete

by kashmir



Category: The OC
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-05-11
Updated: 2004-05-11
Packaged: 2017-10-22 02:59:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/233011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kashmir/pseuds/kashmir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ryan left for Chino. Now he’s back. But Seth isn’t there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Incomplete

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written in response to the [Word # 54 challenge](http://www.livejournal.com/community/15minuteficlets/17455.html#cutid1) in the [](http://15minuteficlets.livejournal.com/profile)[**15minuteficlets**](http://15minuteficlets.livejournal.com/) Communtiy. Post-finale OC seemed to scream this word. I think it may suck. I really, really do. It’s not nearly as slashy as I had hoped. But it was written in 15 minutes. So, you be the judge. Also, painfully un-betaed.

**in-com-plete** _adj._ **1.** lacking a part or parts **2.** unfinished **3.** not perfect

He'd never expected this. He'd envisioned his return to the Cohen household numerous times. Sometimes in his fantasies they welcomed him back with open arms. Sometimes they shut him out. Sometimes they welcomed him back, but it was stilted and awkward. Like it had been the first time around.

But never this. He never imagined coming back to a distraught Sandy and an almost broken Kirsten. And no Seth.

That's what it all came down to. Seth. Comic book loving, geeky, rambling, skateboarding Seth.

It always came back to Seth for Ryan.

And now he just… wasn't there. Gone, Sandy said. Just left a couple of notes and sailed away. To God only knows where.

Ryan couldn't process it at first. Seth was gone? He'd left... On his boat?

But why?

The more Ryan thought about it, the more obvious it became to him. Seth left because of him. All of this was his fault. The eerily quiet house. The silent breakfasts and, even worse, the lonely dinners. The PS2 and XBox were getting dusty. Kirsten had refused to put them away, insisting he'd be back. Soon, she always said and then she'd bring a hand to her mouth, turning slightly.

Ryan could see the tears she tried to hide.

Seth had left because Ryan had left him to go back to Chino. To someplace he didn't belong anymore.

He belonged in Newport with Seth. He just hadn’t realized it at the time. Because it all came back to Seth for Ryan.

He'd made the decision to come home shortly after arriving back in Chino. He didn't belong there and he knew it. His hero complex was in full swing once again, though, and he just had to save Teresa. Once he'd been back though, he'd realized what a mistake it was. He immediately made the decision to go back to Newport. Whatever happened with Teresa, he could deal just as well from Newport… Maybe even better than if he was in Chino. Because he’d have Sandy and Kirsten behind him.

And Seth.

It had taken him another two weeks to get up the nerve to actually go back to Newport.

And when he'd gotten back... When he'd come home, it hadn't been right. It wasn't the same.

It was incomplete. And now, Ryan was incomplete.


End file.
